JPH099409A - Power converter unit for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To improve the cooling capacity so as to realize one inverter and one unit by arranging a semiconductor element and a parts unit in orthogonal direction to the direction of advance of a vehicle, and besides on the side of a wheel where the maintenance is easy, using a thermosiphon boiler and cooler making use of evaporation and latent heat of a refrigerant. CONSTITUTION: The thermosiphon boiler and cooler 2 within a case 1 comprises a boiler part block 2a and a condenser 2b, and the boiler part block 2a consists of center member, and a refrigerant is charged in this interior, and the condenser 2b is coupled tightly to the boiler part block 2a, and the refrigerant circulates between both. If a module semiconductor element 3 being a heater is attached to the boiler block 2a, the semiconductor is cooled by the latent heat being generated when the refrigerant charged in the boiler part block 2a boils and changes into liquid, being sent to the condenser. As a result, the performance of the cooler improves, and one inverter and one unit constitution is realized, and the downsizing can be made.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle power converter unit, for example, an inverter unit for driving a vehicle and an inverter unit for an auxiliary power source of the vehicle, and more particularly to a cooling unit for a vehicle module type semiconductor device. The present invention relates to a vehicle power converter unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 6 is a side view showing a state of the inside of a casing 1 as viewed along the traveling direction of a vehicle, for explaining an example of a conventional vehicle inverter unit. Is referred to as the front side (wheel side having wheels), and the right half of the figure is referred to as the back side (the side opposite to the wheel side: the central portion of the vehicle).

The module type semiconductor element 3 which constitutes an inverter for a vehicle requires some kind of cooling means, and a heat pipe type cooler 16 is used as a cooler for the module type semiconductor element 3. Such a configuration has three in the case of a three-phase inverter and one in the case of a single-phase inverter.

The heat pipe cooler 16 comprises a heat pipe body 16a and a heat receiving block 16b. The heat pipe body 16a is provided with several independent heat pipes and the outer peripheral surface of each heat pipe. The heat pipe main body 16 includes a plurality of radiating fins 16c, and one end of the heat pipe is embedded in the heat receiving block 16b.
A small amount of refrigerant is enclosed in a, and the semiconductor element 3, which is a heating element attached to the heat receiving block 16b, is cooled by the two-phase change of the refrigerant gas and liquid.

The heat dissipating fins 16c are connected by a method such as pipe expansion and press fitting so that several heat pipes penetrate therethrough. Heat receiving part block 1 of the heat pipe type cooler 16
The semiconductor element 3 which is a plurality of heating elements is attached to 6b (which is disposed in the closed container on the back side), and the module-type semiconductor element 3 is attached so as to be located below.
It is cooled by the heat pipe cooler 16. Further, the cooler 16 is attached in a state of being inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the inside of the unit housing case so that the heat receiving block 16b is located below.

The terminals between the semiconductor elements 3 are rectangular plate conductors 17.
The snubber capacitor and the snubber diode 5 are attached to the rectangular plate conductor 17. Further, the filter capacitor 6 ″ is arranged directly below the semiconductor element 3,
The snubber resistor 8 is arranged above the heat receiving block 16b, and the gate substrate 9'for generating a gate signal applied to the semiconductor element 3 is arranged on the back surface side of the unit.

The inverter unit having the above-mentioned configuration is mounted on the main body of the power converter by pushing it from the side of the wheel on the side surface perpendicular to the traveling direction of the bottom surface of the vehicle.
The input / output terminals of the inverter unit are configured to be connected to the main circuit connecting conductor 13 arranged on the upper part of the unit.

[0008]

The conventional vehicle inverter unit having the above-mentioned structure has the following problems. Due to the structure of the heat pipe cooler 16, when a plurality of semiconductor elements 3, which are heat receiving bodies, are attached to the heat receiving section block 16b, the heat receiving section block 16b.
In addition to the above temperature difference, because of the efficiency of the heat radiation fins 16c, if one inverter is configured with one unit, the outer shape becomes abnormally large, so that the unit has three units. As a result, the number of parts increases,
The large proportion of the units in the inverter device was a factor that made it impossible to reduce the size and weight.

Further, since it is composed of a plurality of units,
When testing, the range that can be tested by the unit alone is narrow,
The test process was not able to be reduced. further,
Since the gate board 9'is arranged in the closed casing on the rear surface side of the unit, when the gate board 9 is investigated on site, it has to be dug right under the train, which is a maintenance problem.

Since the semiconductor element 3 is attached to the heat receiving portion block 16b of the cooler 16 which is attached at an inclination, replacement work when the semiconductor element 3 fails can be performed only after the unit is removed from the apparatus. After all, it was a maintenance problem.

Further, in the module type semiconductor element 3, the inductance of the element snubber circuit and the inductance of the element-filter capacitor must be reduced due to the characteristics of the element 3, so that the filter capacitor unit must be arranged in the immediate vicinity of the element 3. In addition, the space inside the unit could not be used effectively, and it was difficult to reduce the size.
Furthermore, since the terminals of the semiconductor element 3 are connected by the rectangular plate conductor 17, it is difficult to reduce the inductance.

The rectangular plate conductor 17 and the filter capacitor 6
In the power board 4 ″ arranged between the thin plate conductors, the thin plate conductors are overlapped with each other to reduce the inductance. However, the thin plate conductors are overlapped and formed in the same shape as the conductors. The thin man-made insulating paper was integrated by sandwiching the double- or triple-insulating insulating paper in consideration of pinholes and the like, which required a great number of assembly steps.

Moreover, since the snubber resistor 8 is arranged on the back side of the inside of the housing, it is arranged in the space sealed by the housing and the main body of the power converter (not shown). It was also a factor.

Further, even in the same inverter unit, the driving inverter unit and the auxiliary power source inverter unit are completely different in configuration and the like, so that the number of inverter unit models is inevitably increased.

The present invention improves the cooling performance of the cooler, reduces the inductance, realizes a one-inverter-one-unit configuration, has good performance, and is a standardized electric power converter for vehicles that can be reduced in size and weight. The purpose is to provide a unit.

[0016]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 provides a cooler for cooling a plurality of modular semiconductor elements constituting a power converter for a vehicle, and In a vehicle power converter unit equipped with a component unit requiring maintenance such as a gate amplifier unit for outputting a gate signal of a semiconductor element and a filter capacitor for the purpose of reducing the inductance of a circuit, boiling as the cooler Part block and condenser, the evaporation of the refrigerant enclosed in both of them, using a thermosiphon type boiling cooler that utilizes latent heat, the semiconductor element and the component unit requiring maintenance to the vehicle traveling direction For vehicles characterized by being arranged on the wheel side in a direction orthogonal to A force converter unit.

In order to achieve the above object, an invention according to claim 2 is to extend the life of the filter capacitor, the first filter capacitor unit for reducing the inductance of the power conversion circuit, and the filter capacitor itself. 2. The vehicle power converter unit according to claim 1, wherein the power converter unit is divided into the second filter capacitor unit and the first filter capacitor unit is arranged in the vicinity of the semiconductor element.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the anti-storm valve side of the first and second filter condenser units is directed to the side opposite to the wheel side. It is the electric power converter unit for vehicles as described in 2.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that the semiconductor element and the first filter capacitor unit are combined with a thin insulating plate and a thin conductive plate. The electric power converter unit for a vehicle according to claim 2, wherein the electric power converter unit is electrically connected by a power board.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 5 uses two kinds of the power boards, one of which is directly connected to the semiconductor element, and the other one is a snubber circuit. 5. The vehicle power converter unit according to claim 4, wherein the snubber capacitor and the snubber diode constituting the above are connected, and the two types of power boards surround the snubber capacitor and the snubber diode.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention corresponding to claim 6 is characterized in that the gate signal line applied to the gate of the semiconductor element is an optical fiber. It is a unit.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 7 provides an apparatus main body mounting frame for suspending and mounting the power converter apparatus main body in a housing for accommodating a power converter unit. The electric power converter unit for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the electric power converter unit is included in the section.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 8 arranges a snubber resistor constituting the snubber circuit by dividing it into an open portion of a casing, and a terminal of the snubber resistor is provided in a wiring passage. The electric power converter unit for vehicles according to claim 5, wherein

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 9 is applied to at least one of a unit for driving a vehicle and a unit for an auxiliary power supply of the vehicle. It is a power converter unit for vehicles.

[0025]

According to the invention corresponding to claim 1, since the thermosiphon type boiling cooler is used as the cooler, the cooling performance is improved and one inverter and one unit can be realized.
The unit space can be effectively utilized, and the device is compact and
An inverter unit that can be made lighter and easier to make is obtained.

According to the invention according to claim 2, since the filter capacitor is divided and arranged so that the inductance of the inverter circuit is reduced, the unit space can be effectively utilized, and the device can be made compact and lightweight.

According to the invention corresponding to claim 3, the safety is increased. . According to the invention corresponding to claim 4, by adopting a power board which is composed of a thin insulating plate and a thin conductor only by screwing at a few places, the thin conductor can be used in consideration of pinholes and the like as in the conventional case. Compared to the case where the insulating paper that was attached to the heavy and triple layers is attached, the man-hours can be significantly reduced.

According to the invention corresponding to claim 5, the heat from the semiconductor element can be conducted to the upper part of the unit by the power board, and the heat of the snubber capacitor and the snubber diode can be conducted to the upper part of the unit. Even it can be thermally insulated. Therefore, the gate amplifier unit and the filter capacitor unit, which affect the quality life depending on the ambient temperature, can be arranged in the vicinity of the semiconductor element.

According to the invention according to claim 6, there is no influence of noise and reliability is improved. According to the invention corresponding to claim 7, it is possible to obtain the inverter unit which does not take much time for maintenance.

According to the invention corresponding to claim 8, the amount of heat generated in the closed casing can be reduced, and the reliability of the inverter unit is improved. According to the invention corresponding to claim 9, the power converter unit can be standardized.

[0031]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. <First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vehicle inverter unit of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a view taken along the line A--A of FIG. The inside of the housing 1 is a cooler for cooling the module-type semiconductor element 3 on the front side [the left side in FIG. 2 and the direction orthogonal to the traveling direction of the train (paper surface direction)] and the back side. The thermosiphon type boiling cooler 2 described in 1 is provided. The thermosiphon boiling cooler 2 is composed of a boiling block (heat receiving block) 2a and a condenser 2b. The boiling block 2a is made of a hollow member in which a refrigerant is sealed, and the condenser 2b is a boiling portion. The block 2a is connected to the block 2a by brazing, welding or the like so that the refrigerant can circulate between them.

In the cooler 2 having such a structure, when the module type semiconductor element 3 which is a heating element is attached to the boiling section block 2a, the refrigerant enclosed in the boiling section block 2a boils (evaporates), and this boiling The semiconductor element 3 is cooled by the latent heat generated when the generated refrigerant is sent to the condenser 2b and changed into a liquid.

On the semiconductor element 3, a thin plate conductor and an insulating plate (unlike conventional insulating paper, which are formed to have a predetermined thickness) are superposed, and these are screwed to each other at predetermined intervals. The first power board 4 is electrically connected by a boss (not shown), and a snubber capacitor and a snubber diode 5 are arranged and electrically connected to the power board 4. A second power board 4'having the same configuration as the first power board 4 is electrically connected to the snubber capacitor and the snubber diode 5.

The filter capacitor is divided into a first filter capacitor unit 6 for the purpose of reducing inductance and a second filter capacitor unit 6'for the purpose of extending the life of the filter capacitor itself. The filter capacitor unit 6 is disposed on the front side of the casing 1, and the second filter capacitor unit 6'is disposed on the rear side of the casing 1, which will be described later.

In this case, the filter capacitor unit 6
In order to reduce the inductance between the semiconductor element 3 and the semiconductor element 3, the terminal 6a of the filter capacitor unit 6 (the side having the anti-valve valve), the semiconductor element 3 side, and the shortest distance between the power board 4'and the terminal 6a. The first terminal block 7 is electrically connected.

A gate amplifier unit 9 is arranged on the front side (wheel side) in the casing 1 and above the filter capacitor unit 6, and the gate amplifier unit 9 and the inverter device body (power converter device body) are connected to each other. The optical fiber 14 is used for the connection.

A second terminal block 7'is provided on the rear surface of the housing 1.
Is fixed, and the terminals of the filter capacitor unit 6 ′ are electrically connected to the terminal blocks 7 and 7 ′.
7, the terminal block 7 ′ and the inverter device body are connected by a main circuit connecting conductor 13.

Snubber resistors 8 and 8'are arranged in an opening formed in the upper portion of the cooler 2 of the housing 1, and the terminal portions 8a and 8'a of the snubber resistors 8 and 8'are sealed chambers. Therefore, it is configured to be located in the wiring passage 15 formed between the cooler 2 and the unit side cover (cover having a halftone netting structure).

On the back side of the casing 1, another transformer unit for DC instrument (DCPT unit) control wiring connector 11 is arranged, and a connector 10 for connecting to the main body of the inverter is arranged. 10 is connected to the optical fiber 14.

It should be noted that four device body mounting frames 19 are provided near the corners on the top of the casing 1. A connection conductor 17 for electrically connecting the power boards 4, 4'and the terminal block 7 ', and a terminal 6 of the filter capacitor unit 6'
Connection conductor 2 for electrically connecting'a and terminal block 7 '
1 is provided, and a current transformer (CT) is provided in the middle of the connecting conductor 21.
20 are provided.

The configuration described above is a one-inverter, one-unit configuration and is configured to be suspended from the main body of the inverter device. According to the first embodiment described above, the thermosiphon type boiling cooler 2 is used as the cooler,
The filter capacitor is divided into a first filter capacitor unit 6 for the purpose of reducing inductance and a second filter capacitor unit 6'for extending the life of the capacitor itself, and the snubber resistors 8 and 8'are provided in the housing 1. Since the snubber capacitors and the snubber diodes 5 are arranged on the power boards 4 and 4'in the open part, the electric performance is improved, the cooling performance is improved, and the temperature rise characteristic of the sealed part of the housing is improved.

FIG. 3 shows the heat flow state of the first embodiment. The outside air is introduced into the inside of the casing 1 from a part of the casing 1 near the periphery of the condenser 2b of the cooler 2, and the condenser 2b is cooled by the outside air, and the opening portion of the casing 1 above the condenser 2b. Is discharged to the outside of the housing.

The air surrounded by the power boards 4 and 4'cools the snubber capacitor and the snubber diode 5 by natural convection, and then the dust avoiding cover 22 provided on the upper part of the housing 1 is used to drive the inverter. It is discharged to the device body (not shown). Further, the air near the terminal 6a of the filter capacitor unit 6 and the air around the boiling portion block 2a of the cooler 2 and the filter capacitor unit 6'are similarly discharged by natural convection to the inverter device body through the dust avoiding cover 22. To be done. A packing 23 is provided at the opening of the dust avoiding cover 22.

According to the first embodiment described above, the following effects can be obtained. (1) Since the thermosiphon type boiling cooler 2 is used as the cooler, the cooling performance is improved as compared with the conventional heat pipe type cooler, and one inverter and one unit can be realized.

(2) Since the thermosiphon type boiling cooler 2 is used, as for the positional relationship between the boiling section block 2a and the condenser 2b, as long as the boiling section block 2a is located below the condenser 2b. Since there are no restrictions, the unit space can be used effectively, and there is no need to incline it at a predetermined angle to the bottom surface of the case like the conventional heat pipe cooler, so the inverter device as a whole is small and lightweight. It is possible to obtain an inverter unit that is easy to manufacture.

(3) The filter capacitor is divided into a first filter capacitor unit 6 for reducing inductance and a second filter capacitor unit 6'for extending the life of the capacitor itself, and the capacitor terminal portion is divided. With 6a and 6'a facing toward the center of the unit,
Since the semiconductor element 3 is arranged so as to reduce its inductance, in addition to the effect of (1), the unit space can be effectively utilized, and the device can be made compact and lightweight.
You can get an easy-to-make inverter unit.

(4) Further, by adopting the power boards 4 and 4'which are composed of the thin insulating plate and the thin conductor only by screwing at a few places, the thin conductor is considered to have pinholes and the like as in the conventional case. Compared to the case where the double-layered or triple-layered insulating paper is attached, the number of steps can be significantly reduced.

(5) By directly mounting the power boards 4 and 4'on the semiconductor element 3, the inductance of the semiconductor element 3 can be greatly reduced. Moreover, the power board 4 is arranged on the semiconductor element 3, and the filter capacitor units 6 are electrically connected by the power boards 4, 4 ', and the semiconductor element 3 and the snubber capacitor and the snubber diode 5 and the filter capacitor are connected. Since the space between 5 is divided by the power boards 4 and 4 ', the semiconductor element 3
The heat from the power board 4 and the heat of the snubber capacitors and snubber diodes 5 are transferred to the power board 4,
It can be guided to the upper part of the unit by 4'and can be thermally insulated against radiant heat. Therefore, the gate amplifier unit 9 and the filter capacitor unit 6, which affect the quality life depending on the ambient temperature, can be arranged in the vicinity of the semiconductor element 3. As a result, the wiring for obtaining the gate signal can be minimized, there is no problem with noise, the inductance of the semiconductor element 3 can be reduced, and an inverter unit with good performance can be obtained.

(6) With the mounting position of the semiconductor element 3 on the front side of the housing, the equipment that may require testing, investigation, and replacement, that is, the gate amplifier unit 9 and the filter capacitor unit 6 are installed in the housing 1. Since it is located on the front side of the train, maintenance can be performed from the underside of the train floor, there is no need to dig into the center under the train floor, work can be performed in a place without a pit, work time can be shortened, and safety is also good. An inverter unit is obtained.

(7) Even if the semiconductor element 3 is replaced, the work can be performed on site, and the inverter unit is a single unit 1 as a unit.
Moreover, since each component of the inverter unit is unitized, it is possible to significantly reduce the work time on site except when the cooler 2 is out of order, and the structure of the casing of the apparatus body is simplified.

(8) The snubber resistors 8 and 8'are separately arranged in the open portion of the housing 1, and the terminal 8a of the snubber resistor 8 is
Since it is located in the snubber resistance wiring passage 15 formed between the unit cover and the cooler 2, the amount of heat generated in the sealed casing can be reduced, and the reliability of the inverter unit is improved.

(9) The snubber resistor 8 is connected to the condenser 2 of the cooler 2.
Since the wiring of the snubber resistor 8 is arranged on the b side and is passed through the snubber resistance wiring passage 15 provided between the unit side cover and the cooler 2, the space inside the housing 1 is effectively made. The entire unit can be made smaller and lighter.

(10) The connection with the main body of the inverter is
Since there are only a few conductors of the main circuit, one control wiring connector 11 and the optical fiber connector 10, the work can be easily performed even when the unit is attached or detached.

(11) The filter capacitors 6 and 6'are
By arranging the terminal portions 6a and 6'a toward the center of the housing 1 and the boiling portion block side of the cooler 2, not only the inductance is reduced, but also when the filter capacitor is ruptured, the contents of the capacitor are reduced. Since the objects fly to the center of the housing 1 and do not fly to the unit inspection cover side that touches the operator, P
It becomes a safe inverter unit according to L (Product Liability Law).

(12) Since the optical fiber 14 is used as the signal line applied to the control terminal of the semiconductor element 3, there is no influence of noise and the reliability is improved. (13) The inverter unit is configured as a single housing that is suspended and mounted on the main body of the device, and each component of the inverter unit is unitized so that each unit can be removed without removing the inverter unit. An inverter unit that does not take much time can be obtained.

(14) Since the components housed in the housing have the same structure as the drive inverter unit and the auxiliary power supply inverter unit, the inverter unit can be standardized. <Second Embodiment> As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, in the first embodiment, a second filter capacitor unit 6'and a DC meter transformer unit (DC) arranged on the rear surface side of the housing are used.
The only difference is that the PT unit) 12 is arranged on the front side of the housing.

With this configuration, all maintenance and the like can be performed from the front side, and the inspection cover 1b on the rear side of the housing 1 is used only when the inverter unit is attached and detached.

Other functions and effects are the same as those in the first embodiment. <Modifications> The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and may be modified as follows, for example. As an arrangement example of each device arranged on the front side of the housing, it can be arbitrarily modified according to the application to which it is applied. Although the above-described embodiment has been described with respect to the three-phase inverter unit, the same operation can be performed with a single-phase inverter unit or a converter unit.

[0059]

According to the present invention described above, the cooling performance of the cooler can be improved and the inductance can be reduced.
Realized 1 inverter 1 unit configuration, good performance,
It is possible to provide a standardized electric power converter unit for a vehicle that can be reduced in size and weight.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of an inverter unit of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram taken along the line AA of FIG. 1 and viewed in the arrow direction.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a heat flow of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a second embodiment of the inverter unit of the present invention.

5 is a front view of the inverter unit seen from the direction of arrow C in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing a semiconductor element cooling unit as an example of the conventional vehicle inverter unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Housing, 2 ... Thermosiphon type evaporative cooler, 3 ... Modular semiconductor element, 4 ... 1st power board, 4 '
... second power board, 5 ... snubber capacitor and snubber diode, 6 ... first filter capacitor unit, 6 '... second filter capacitor unit, 7 ... first terminal block, 7' ... second terminal block , 8 ... snubber resistance, 9
… Gate amplifier unit, 10… optical fiber connector,
11 ... Control wiring connector, 12 ... DC meter transformer unit, 13 ... Main circuit connecting conductor, 14 ... Optical fiber,
15 ... Passage for snubber resistance wiring.

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A cooler for cooling a plurality of module type semiconductor elements constituting a power converter for a vehicle, a gate amplifier unit for outputting a gate signal of the semiconductor elements, and a reduction of circuit inductance. In a vehicle power converter unit equipped with a component unit that requires maintenance such as a target filter condenser, comprising a boiling section block and a condenser as the cooler,
Evaporation of the refrigerant enclosed in both of these, using a thermosyphon type boiling cooler utilizing latent heat, the semiconductor element and the component unit requiring maintenance are in a direction orthogonal to the traveling direction of the vehicle. And a power converter unit for a vehicle, which is arranged on a wheel side that is easy to maintain. 2. The filter capacitor is divided into a first filter capacitor unit for reducing the inductance of the power conversion circuit and a second filter capacitor unit for extending the life of the filter capacitor itself, and the first filter capacitor unit is divided. 2. The vehicle power converter unit according to claim 1, wherein the filter capacitor unit according to claim 1 is arranged near the semiconductor element. 3. The vehicle power converter unit according to claim 2, wherein the storm valve side of the first and second filter capacitor units is directed to the side opposite to the wheel side. 4. The semiconductor device and the first filter capacitor unit are electrically connected by a power board formed by combining a thin insulating plate and a thin conductive plate. Item 2. The vehicle power converter unit according to Item 2. 5. The power board is used in two types, one of which is directly connected to the semiconductor element, and the other one of which is connected a snubber capacitor and a snubber diode forming a snubber circuit, and The vehicle power converter unit according to claim 4, wherein two types of power boards surround the snubber capacitor and the snubber diode. 6. The gate signal line applied to the gate of the semiconductor element is an optical fiber.
The vehicle power converter unit described. 7. The device body mounting frame for suspending and mounting the power converter device body in a part of a housing for housing the power converter unit. Vehicle power converter unit. 8. The snubber resistor forming the snubber circuit is dividedly arranged in an open portion of the housing, and the snubber resistor terminal is located in the wiring passage.
The vehicle power converter unit described. 9. The electric power converter unit for a vehicle according to claim 1, which is applied to at least one of a unit for driving the vehicle and a unit for an auxiliary power source of the vehicle.